Sleeve metering collar adjusting lever

ABSTRACT

An adjusting lever for a sleeve metering collar on a plunger pump having a tang for cooperative insertion into an annulus in the collar for imparting movement thereto. The lever is bifurcated and mounted on a control shaft having an adjustment bore located therein. A tool having an eccentric projection adapted to be fitted within the bore serves to rotate the lever on the control shaft and thereby calibrate the sleeve metering collar.

United States Patent 1 m1 3,712,763 Parks 1 Jan. 23, 1973 SLEEVEMETERING COLLAR FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS ADJUSTING LEVER 660,360[0/1949 Great Britain ..4l7/499 [75] inventor: John H. Parks, Peoria,ll]. 404,248 6/1933 Great Britain ..4l7/494 9l3,l72 5/1946 France..4l7/494 [73] Assignee: Caterpillar Tractor Co., Peoria, lll.

p 1 Primary Examiner-William L. Freeh Attorney-Fryer, Tjensvold, Feix,Phillips & Lempio [21] App]. No.: 73,464

[57] ABSTRACT [52] [1.8. CI. ..417/499 An adjus ing l ver for a leeve meng ollar on a [51 Int. Cl. ..F04b 39/10 plunger p having a tang forcooperative insertion 58 Field of Search ..417/2s9, 499,440 into anannulus in the collar for imparting movement thereto. The lever isbifurcated and mounted on a [56] Reerences Cited control shaft having anadjustment bore located therein. A tool having an eccentric projectionadapted UNITED STATES PATENTS to be fitted within the bore serves torotate the lever on the control shaft and thereby calibrate the sleeve1,369,666 2 1921 Johnson .....417 499 metering collar. 2,657,631 ll/l953Evans ..4l7/289 2,965,087 12/1960 Bischoff et al ..4l7/289 3 Claims, 5Drawing Figures PATENTrEm-m 2s m sum 1 or 3 INVENTORS JOHN H. PARKS 7 'eATTORNEYS PAIENTEDmzs ms SHEET 2 0F 3 y VV/w I VENTORS PARKS JOHATTORNEYS PATENTEDJAN 23 1915 SHEET 3 OF 3 INVENTORS JO HN H. PARKSSLEEVE METERING COLLAR ADJUSTING LEVER CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATEDPATENTS Pertinent cross-references are Parks, U.S. Pat. No.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generallyto a sleeve metering fuel injection pump and more particularly to a newand improved adjusting lever for actuating the sleeve metering collar.

In prior art fuel injection pumps, e.g. that disclosed in thecross-referenced Parks patent, a plurality of control pins or linksextend through a corresponding number of bores in a longitudinallyoriented control shaft. The control pins or links engage sleeve meteringcollars the function of which is to control the volume of fuel deliveredto each cylinder. Rotational movement of the control shaft istransformed by the control links into axial movement of the collarrelative to a fuel outlet port. In order to accomplish such movement itis necessary to form the end of the control link in contact with thecollar eccentric to the axis of the control link. Adjusting the controllink moves the collar axially in either direction to provide propercalibration to the collar.

The construction thus provided is disadvantageous for several reasons.First of all, the eccentric construction allows only limited movementfor providing calibration of the collar. Secondly, this prior artconstruction requires producing the bores in the control shaft such thatthey are in line on the shaft within very close tolerances. This resultsin increased machining costs. Thirdly, the point contact provided by theeccentric with the collar results in a considerable amount of wear dueto the small area of contact between moving parts. This results in theneed for frequent adjustment and/or replacement of the parts.

It is to a solution of these and other problems encountered with theprior art devices that this invention is directed.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an improvedsleeve metering collar adjusting lever.

It is also an object of this invention to provide'an improved sleevemetering collar adjusting lever which is inexpensive to machine.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an improved sleevemetering collar adjusting lever which allows greater adjustability forcalibration of the collar.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide an improvedsleeve metering collar adjusting lever which has enhanced wearcharacteristics.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description and claims and as illustrated inthe accompanying drawings which, by way of illustration only, show apreferred embodiment of the invention and the principles of operationthereof. It is to be understood that the scope of the invention is notto be limited thereto, but is to be defined by the scope of the appendedclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side elevation view of amulti-plunger fuel injection pump partly cut away to show a singleplunger and attendant structure including a single adjusting lever.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-section of the pump taken along lines l-l ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-section taken along the lines III-III of FIG.1 and showing a front view of the sleeve metering collar and adjustinglever of this invention in detail as well as an adjustment tool for usetherewith.

FIG. 4 is an end view of the sleeve metering collar and adjusting leverwith adjustment tool taken along the lines lV-IV of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an isometric view of the adjusting lever illustrating itsattachment means.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2 there is showngenerally at 10 a multi-plunger fuel injection pump including thereinthe improved sleeve metering collar and adjusting lever of thisinvention. The basic structure and operation of the pump is similar tothat disclosed in the previously cross-referenced patents to Parks andMaxwell et al. Rather than utilizing an eccentric arrangement asdisclosed in those patents, the instant invention utilizes a bifurcatedadjustment lever generally shown at 12. The lever generally comprises atang means 14 which is secured to control shaft 16 by means of a bolt 18extending through a hole in leg 20 and being threadably secured to leg22 of the lever.

Tang means 14 engages annular groove or annulus 24 in sleeve meteringcollar 26. Rotation of control shaft 16 in either the clockwise orcounter-clockwise direction is produced by the movement of a piston 30.It should be noted that a more detailed description of the operation ofthe piston to rotate the control shaft may be bad, if needed, byreference to the previously cross-referenced patents to Parks andMaxwell et al. It is sufficient to say that rotation of the controlshaft is transmitted through lever 12 to reciprocate collar 26 andthereby to determine the quantity of fuel which is injected into acylinder of an engine. When used with a multi-plunger pump as describedin the aforementioned patents, a plurality of levers 12 are utilized,one for each pump cylinder. The operation of the device is as follows.In order to insure that the desired equal amount of fuel is injectedinto each cylinder of the engine from the pump for a given governorsetting, each lever must be individually adjusted to establish acritical dimension a" as shown in FIG. 2. This dimension is establishedfrom collar 26 to the fuel inlet port 28 of the plunger.

As best seen in FIG. 3, the critical dimension a is established byadjusting lever 12 in the following manner. Bolt 18 is loosened suchthat the legs 20, 22 expand away from shaft 16 and the lever is freelyrotatable on the shaft. A generally cylindrical tool 32 having acylindrical eccentric projection member 34 on one end is placed into thespace between legs 20, 22 until member 34 engages close-fitting bore 36in shaft 16. It should be noted that cylindrical tool 32 is of adiameter closely approximating the height of the space between legs 20and 22. This dimensional relation is critical since rotation of tool 30about the axis defined by its eccentric projection will cause a side ofthe tool to contact an inner surface 37 or 38 of legs or 22,respectively, and thereby urge lever 12 in a clockwise orcounterclockwise direction depending on the direction of rotation oftool 32. The lever is thereby rotated with respect to shaft 16 until thedesired dimension a is achieved, as measured with a gauge. Whendimension a is established, bolt 18 is tightened to secure lever 12 toshaft 16 and tool 32 is withdrawn. The above operation is repeated foreach lever of a multi-plunger pump.

It is to be understood that the foregoing description is merelyillustrative of preferred embodiments of the invention and that thescope of the invention is not to be limited thereto, but is to bedetermined by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a plunger pump having a body, at least one plunger in said body, acollar on each plunger, lever means connected to each plunger operableby a control shaft for varying the volume of fluid delivered by eachplunger stroke, said lever means comprising a bifurcated member defininga pair of legs having a gap therebetween, said control shaft beingpositioned within said gap, releasable locking means for drawing saidlegs together and thereby grip said control shaft to prevent rotationalmovement of said lever means with respect to said control shaft, boremeans in said control shaft intermediate said legs for receiving anadjustment tool, said tool being elongated with the diameter thereofbeing approximately equal to the height of the gap and having aneccentric projection extending from one end being closely fitted withinsaid bore means whereby said lever means may be rotatably adjusted withrespect to said control shaft subsequent to releasing said lockingmeans.

2. The invention of claim 1 wherein releasable locking means include abolt extending through a hole in one of said pair of legs and isthreadably engaged with the other leg thereof.

3, The invention of claim 1 wherein said bore means comprise a generallyradially directed bore in said control shaft.

1. In a plunger pump having a body, at least one plunger in said body, acollar on each plunger, lever means connected to each plunger operableby a control shaft for varying the volume of fluid delivered by eachplunger stroke, said lever means comprising a bifurcated member defininga pair of legs having a gap therebetween, said control shaft beingpositioned within said gap, releasable locking means for drawing saidlegs together and thereby grip said control shaft to prevent rotationalmovement of said lever means with respect to said control shaft, boremeans in said control shaft intermediate said legs for receiving anadjustment tool, said tool being elongated with the diameter thereofbeing approximately equal to the height of the gap and having aneccentric projection extending from one end being closely fitted withinsaid bore means whereby said lever means may be rotatably adjusted withrespect to said control shaft subsequent to releasing said lockingmeans.
 2. The invention of claim 1 wherein releasable locking meansinclude a bolt extending through a hole in one of said pair of legs andis threadably engaged with the other leg thereof.
 3. The invention ofclaim 1 wherein said bore means comprise a generally radially directedbore in said control shaft.